Voters select local Supreme Court justices

In the Third Judicial District, which includes Sullivan and Ulster counties, Sullivan County's Stephan Schick took one of the two local seats.

In the Ninth District, which includes Orange and Dutchess counties, Sandra Sciortino from Orange and Maria Rosa from Dutchess took two of the three open seats.

The Supreme Court oversees civil claims, including lawsuits, municipal suits, divorces and foreclosures. The justices are elected to 14-year terms.

District administrators will make the ultimate decision over which judges sit where. But in the past, judges from our counties — which are at the far ends of their respective districts — are usually assigned to home court.

Schick and Sciortino said resident judges bring local knowledge to court with them, which breeds a certain comfort level for lawyers and litigants alike. It's not a reflection on the judges themselves, but on the way justice is administered, Sciortino said. "What this means is consistent justice," she said. "It's an assurance that your judge will be sitting here throughout your case, not leaving after a year or two years or three years."

Because the Ninth is dominated by Westchester and Rockland counties, and the Third by Albany and Rensselaer, judges from the bigger counties often move back toward home as they gain seniority.

In Orange, there is one resident judge, Justice Elaine Slobod. Justice Lawrence Ecker, from Putnam, began serving in 2011; and Justice Paul Marx, from Westchester, took office in January 2012. Justices Catherine Bartlett and Robert Onofry are acting justices; Bartlett is an appointed Court of Claims judge, and Onofry is the county's elected Surrogate Judge.

Sciortino said the issue could arise again, and soon. Slobod turns 70 next year, the judicial retirement age; her seat could then open up.

Sullivan hasn't had a resident judge since 2002, when then-Supreme Court Judge Anthony Kane was elevated to the Appellate Division.

Since then, Sullivan's civil case load — lawsuits, municipal suits, foreclosures, divorces — have been handled by acting and visiting justices or by justices from elsewhere in the district, from as far away as Troy or Albany.

"It's a long way to go to get emergency orders signed," Schick said. "I figure it's much better to have someone who knows the county. How would people from Queens feel if they assigned me down there?"